The message was clear when DTU President Anders Bjarklev took the podium in front of DTU's new students on Welcome Day on Thursday, 29 August: Do your best and strive high, but remember the community.
‘Your education is a shared life journey, not a competition. You need to be great engineers, but you also need to be a team," said President Anders Bjarklev to a large gathering at Lyngby Campus.
During the welcome day, the students were introduced to their respective campuses, their field of study, and their future fellow students with a lot of academic and social activities.
Dean Lars D. Christoffersen and President of DTU's student association Polyteknisk Forening (PF) Mikkel Berrig Rasmussen also welcomed the students with speeches.
‘Not only have you been admitted to a world-class technical university, you have also been admitted to a university that prioritizes your voice and with which we have a close collaboration because DTU knows how important the students’ voice is,’ said Mikkel Berrig Rasmussen when it was his turn to take the podium.
Friday was the intro day, where the new students met several students from both their own study programme and students from other study programmes. Like the welcome day, the intro day was a combination of academic and social activities.
A good start and high expectations
20-year-old Anna V. Lindström Kühl and 20-year-old Matilde Eis will start on the Biotechnology and Human Life Science Engineering study programmes, respectively. Anna V. Lindström Kühl didn't know anyone at DTU beforehand, so she was a bit nervous when the welcome day started, but the nervousness quickly disappeared:
‘We were quickly divided into groups of ten, and it has worked really well. We've also sat and had lunch together in those groups, which has made everything much more manageable,’ she said.
Matilde Eis' expectations for the rest of the study start were high when she was asked about them on the welcome day.
‘I can't wait to see what tomorrow's intro day will bring and to the party in the evening. I also want to mingle with students from other study programmes. The goal is to build a large network,’ she explained.
26-year-old Lukas Slatanach, who will be studying Engineering Physics, also had high expectations Thursday.
‘It's been great, we've done a lot of different activities and talked to the head of studies, dean etc. So it's been very nice and I'm looking forward to the next few days,’ he said.
All new undergraduate students were invited when DTU and PF transformed Sportshallen, Oticon Hallen and S-Huset at Lyngby Campus into a huge party on Friday night, where Lamin and Saint Clara performed.
